


The Sins of Our Fathers

by risingfire17



Category: Psycho-Pass
Genre: Brainwashing, F/M, Gen, Memory Alteration, Memory Loss, Past Child Abuse, Psychology, Repressed Memories, Social Experiments, Sybil System (Psycho-Pass), Unethical Experimentation, kagari lives, the second season does not exist
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-02
Updated: 2020-07-21
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:47:04
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25027168
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/risingfire17/pseuds/risingfire17
Summary: Shusei Kagari finally escaped his life of detention when he secured an Enforcer position with the MWPSB. All he wants to do is forget his past and live the rest of his life as free as possible. But lately, he's been having nightmares that can do far worse than send him back to detention, because those nightmares contain memories that the Sybil System will stop at nothing to keep buried.ON HIATUS
Kudos: 9





	1. Prologue- Release

October 2110

“Shu-chan! Shu-chaaaaaaaannnnn!!!!!”

Shusei Kagari bolted up in his cot in a cold sweat, feeling dizzy and sick. The same damn nightmare had been plaguing him for months now. In the dream, he was a kid again. He was running through the dark hallways of the juvenile ward. Guards were chasing him. He wasn’t sure what he had done or why he was running, but for some reason he knew it was a matter of life and death. And there was another boy ahead of him.

He couldn’t tell much about this boy. He was about Kagari’s own height, skinny with brown hair. He wore the same pale blue gown and scrubs that all the children wore. Nothing else to identify him. But he seemed to be someone Kagari needed to stay with.

But then the path ahead became dark. And the boy disappeared into it. Kagari panicked and begged him not to leave. Maybe the other boy was screaming from beyond the darkness that had taken him. He supposed that was where the screams of “Shu-chan” came in. Some of the others in the juvenile unit had called him that, mostly girls though. It also always unnerved him that in the dream the voice screaming his name was his own. That just didn’t add up.

He laid back down and took deep breaths, as he did every time the nightmare woke him. Wouldn’t want to trigger a cymatic scan now. Couldn’t risk the bots thinking his mental state had regressed. Not when he was finally getting out of this god forsaken place. Tomorrow, he would take up his post of Enforcer at the Ministry of Welfare’s Public Safety Bureau. Tomorrow, he would be outside of a facility since he was first deemed a latent criminal at the age of five, twelve years ago. Nothing was going to stand in the way of that. Especially not the past. It sucked. He didn’t remember most of it. It didn’t matter. All that mattered was the future. One that started tomorrow.

* * *

The knock on the door was soft, as was the female voice behind it. “M-Masari-san? M-may I have a moment?” That was the tone his secretary took when she had bad news. Shuichiro Masari, Head of the Department of Children's’ Health of the Kanto Region, finished sipping his coffee, placed the mug back on his desk, and rested his elbows on the table. He sighed; he had been quite bored, so hopefully this latest “crisis” would be at least somewhat entertaining.

“What is it, Homura-kun?” He leaned forward as she stumbled into his office in that awkward, terrified way of hers. Sometimes she alone was entertaining enough.

“Well, s-sir, thing is, there’s a young man in the Hachiouji Rehabilitation Center, scheduled for release into service for the MWPSB tomorrow, and I noticed he has a flag on him, says to notify you of any transfers before they are approved, and I came to you right away! I swear I have never seen this case before, or I would have brought it to your attention long before now! I honestly-“

“Ehhhhh, do you have the inmate’s file, Homura-kun?” Depending on who this case was, he might have found his source of entertainment for the day.

She placed the file gingerly on his desk, backing away the second the papers left her hand. Masari opened the folder to see a picture of a red-headed teenage boy. Hachiouji Rehabilitation Center-Adolescent Ward, Inmate #32-20-103. Shusei Kagari. 18 years old. Masari was quite familiar with this one.

“Top score on the Enforcer entrance exam in the nation, huh? I’m impressed!” It was to be expected though; the boy had passed the Secondary Level Knowledge Test with flying colors at the mere age of 11. He was a genius. Too bad he was so emotionally unstable. Could he handle police work? This would be interesting to watch.

“You can go, Homura-kun.” Her nervous display ceased to interest him, and he wanted time alone with the newfound entertainment.

“Y-yes sir…um, sir?”

“What is it, Homura-kun?”

“Should I block the boy’s release?”

“…no, Homura-kun. Tell the idiots at Hachiouji Rehab to release him with my blessing.”

“…y-yes sir.”


	2. Stress Test

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kagari learns of some of the tests he has to pass if he wants to stay with the MWPSB, and with the weird flashbacks he's been having, these tests will be much harder than the National Enforcer Exam!

“The rules are simple,” stated Shion Karanomori in between puffs of her cigarette. “I will flash pictures of different people one at a time across the screen. If you recognize the individual, push the button to your left. If you don’t, push the button to your right. Any questions?”

“Yeah, I got a question. Why do I need to do these stupid tests to go into the field? Didn’t I already prove myself capable on the exam? I heard I got the highest score, you know.” Even as he pouted, he slouched further into his chair, aware that he wasn’t going to win.

Silence reigned for a moment while a puff of smoke arose from behind the giant office chair facing him. Kagari had gotten used to both, the constant haze of smoke and the back of Karanamori’s chair, which he saw more of than her face. _That_ she kept buried deep in her computer. Kagari didn’t mind. When she was upset, she had a way of looking at you that made you want to sink into the floor and hide forever.

When she finally spoke, it thankfully wasn’t with anger or even annoyance. Her voice seemed more bored than anything else. _Well that makes two of us_ the impatient man thought.

“A high score on paper doesn’t mean anything, young man. We see shit in this job that…changes people. If we’re not careful it can affect our crime coefficients. Department of Enforcer Oversight doesn’t want that to happen, so they prepare us as much as possible first.”

“Yeah, would suck for them to have to pick another enforcer out of the zillions of latent criminals in prison.”

At this Karanomori turned around in her chair. Her face maintained its usual presentation of profound disinterest, but her eyes were flashing. Furthermore, she had turned just a bit too abruptly. He had struck a nerve, and he knew it. He looked down at his feet to avoid her fiery gaze.

Her voice came out as ice. “You already know most in the detention centers aren’t fit to be enforcers.” It was true. The wards always rang with the sound of screams, wails, and thuds of inmates trying to smash their own skulls in. Most couldn’t read or write, and some couldn’t even speak. Not exactly police force material, even for the simplest hunting dog duties of enforcers.

Karanamori continued: “But they _will_ find a replacement if they need to. _You_ don’t get another chance if they send you back, so you should take things a little more seriously.” He didn’t need her to remind him. That was why he was an enforcer in the first place: it was a latent criminal’s only choice other than a lifetime in the detention center. Kagari sighed. He didn’t feel like getting all serious right now, and that’s where this conversation was heading. He almost regretted, for that reason alone, arguing about the damn memory test.

“Oi, you worried about me, Karanamori-sempai? How sweet!” He put on a mischievous grin. “You know, sempai, you should show that sweet side of yours more often. It definitely increases your hot points!” She _was_ quite attractive, tall, slender, with curves in all the right places and a gait that conveyed absolute ownership of her space. She had shoulder-length blonde curls that framed a petite face and pointed hazel eyes that demanded respect. Her full lips were always painted a crimson red that teased _go ahead and try to cross me; I will eat you._ The lab coat she always wore only added to her sexy dominant vibe. She was hot, in a scary kind of way. Kagari joked, but that scary type of hotness wasn’t for him. He saw her more as an older sister, and, as such, she was fun to tease, even if it might kill him.

But today she didn’t kill him. She just chuckled and retorted with: “Ha, I find that very reliable advice from a boy who probably hasn’t seen a woman since before puberty!”

“Aw, that’s harsh, sempai! I was just trying to help!” He laughed, wholeheartedly relieved for the lighter mood.”

“You wanna help? Take the damn test and quit being a pain in my neck!”

“Well, no promises on that last part, but I’ll take the test, okay?”

“Tch” was her only response as she turned back to her computer. Kagari slouched into his chair and stretched his legs out in front of him. At least the test would be easy, he thought to himself. Didn’t take much effort to say whether he recognized someone or not.

The first image flashed on the screen in front of him. Some random blonde toddler in a sailor outfit. Never seen him before. Kagari pushed the button on the right.

The image of the toddler was replaced by one of a pink-haired hottie with a microphone. Inori Yuzuriha of the band Egoist. Though he didn’t know her personally, he did recognize her, so he pushed the button on the left.

Some official-looking guy in a lab coat over a suit. Thin faced, with dark hair slicked back and black holes for eyes that were pointed and menacing. At any rate, Kagari had never seen him before, so he pushed the button on the right to get rid of the creepy fuck’s picture.

The next one was a girl, about his age. Short brown hair in a cut that reminded him of a mushroom, and brown eyes. White turtleneck sweater. She looked like a librarian. Kinda cute. No clue who she was. Right button.

Another girl around his age. She was a cute one! Light brown curls in a side ponytail. Brown eyes rimmed with pink makeup. And a self-assured grin. He paused. Something about her seemed familiar, especially that smile. The longer he looked at the picture, the more tense he felt. He was certain he had seen that smile before, but where? How would he even have met this girl, anyway? Karenemori-sempai was right about one thing for sure: he had not interacted with a lot of women. He clicked the button on the right, just to be safe.

The next was easy: his coworker: Yayoi Kunizuka, a fellow enforcer and the main person in charge of his training. Left button.

Another easy one: their boss, Inspector Nobuchika Ginoza. Left.

A mugshot of a middle-aged man with dark hair, tanned skin, and fat cheeks flushed from an overload of booze. Kagari grimaced. That man was his father, Masanori Kagari. All he could remember about life before the facility was being beat in this man’s drunken rages. Couldn’t even see the face in his original memories, only the fists. The face he could only remember from being shown mugshots like these. Doctors said this guy’s abuse was probably why his crime coefficient had been so high in the first place. _Tch. Bastard._ Left.

Some old guy at a shrine. Short with a cane. Eyes closed with a big bright smile. Wholesome-looking guy. No one Kagari had ever seen before. Right.

A foreign lady with red hair and unusually amber eyes. The same exotic color, in fact, as his own, and a rare one since the country was closed to foreigners almost twenty years ago. He briefly wondered where his own eyes came from. Eh, probably some distant ancestor from before Japan closed its borders. Another unimportant detail from a past best forgotten. At any rate, he didn’t recognize this lady, so he pushed the button on the right.

Shinya Kougami, another fellow enforcer. Left.

Kagari froze at the next picture. A mugshot of a young boy, with a thin face, wild brown hair, and piercing blue eyes. He was certain that this was the boy from his nightmares. He had already figured those dreams had some basis in his memories, even if he didn’t really want to remember. He guessed the Enforcer Oversight officials didn’t want him to remember, either. He’d had enough instances of “lost time” in the ward to know his memories were being tampered with. Probably using him as a lab rat in some lame experiment. Well, what’s done is done. No need to bring that all up now. He clicked the left button.

As he waited for a picture to load on the dark computer screen, he heard a little girl’s voice in his head, _“But if the experiments are to help us, then it’s okay, right?”_

_What the fuck was that?_ Why did that voice seem so familiar?

_No!_ he argued with the voice. _It’s not okay! It’s not fucking okay! So get the fuck outta my head and stop making me think about it!_

“Oi, Kagari-kun,” Karanamori cut into his internal crisis. “Your hue is starting to cloud; what’s going on?”

He shook his head a few times, shaking himself free of those pesky ghost voices in his mind. He was grateful for Karanamori’s bored drawl and the smell of smoke to bring him back to the present. “It’s nothing, I’m fine now.” When she neither responded nor gave him another picture, he continued, “Really, I’m fine; I’m ready to continue.”

“That was the last picture. You’re free to go.”

“Really, that was it?”

“Yeah. See, you spent more time griping than you did actually taking the test.”

“Did I at least pass?”

“I don’t know. I just send the test results out and someone at Enforcer Oversight determines these things.” As Kagari started to wonder who at Enforcer Oversight would know whom he should and should not be able to recognize, and how they would know, Karanamori added:

“Oh, and since your hue didn’t cloud till after the test was technically over, I don’t see any reason to report it. That should help.”

“Ah…um…thanks, sempai.”

“Don’t mention it. Seriously. Don’t. And learn some breathing exercises or something. Keeping calm is part of all the tests, and a critical skill in police work.”

“Yes, sempai.”

* * *

“How’s the filing going?” asked Yayoi Kunizuka as she took her seat in the cubicle next to Kagari’s.

“Ugh. It’s never-ending. And so boring!” The day was almost over, and he had been filing ever since his memory test that morning. Filing, errands, and tests. That was all he had done these last six months at the MWPSB. “When do I get to see some real action?”

Field work isn’t fun and games. You need to be ready to see the worst side of humanity and still keep your hue from clouding. That’s why we start you off easy, with reading the grizzly details in the case files. So you build a tolerance for it.”

“Oh. I thought you just had no budget for office staff or somethin’.”

“What are you working on right now?”

“Transcribing a latent criminal intake interview. 47-year-old divorcee crying about how she can’t afford to take care of her three kids.”

“Huh?” Kunizuka leaned over his computer. “Oh, I did her home inspection. She had plans to kill the kids to collect insurance money. The oldest, a 10-year-old girl, found out. Her hue had clouded so bad that her crime coefficient was unrecoverable. She’s now at Tokyo Metropolitan Detention Center’s Juvenile Ward.”

“Eh? A lifetime of lockup just because her mom wanted to kill her? That’s trash!”

“Unfortunately, her mother created a psycho-hazard.” When he looked up at her quizzically, she explained: “An elevated crime coefficient can raise the crime coefficients of others in close proximity. Think of it as ‘one bad apple spoiling the bunch.’ That’s why it’s so important to catch the bad apples early on.”

“Not early enough to save the kid, huh?” He didn’t realize he had clenched his free hand into a fist until Kunizuka gently patted it.

“We won’t always get there in time. We see things like this a lot. But you can’t let it cloud your own hue. You know what happens to us if our crime coefficients hit 300.”

“Tch. I know.” He took a deep breath and relaxed his hand. That’s when he noticed the hand that had touched his was wrapped in a bloody handkerchief. “Oi, you’re hurt.”

“Oh, this?” She held her own hand up to her face and shrugged. “There was a scuffle today. Subjects rarely come in easy.” She returned to her own computer. “It’s not that bad. I’ll get it looked at after I finish the report.”

“Um, is there anything I can do, ya know, to help?”

“Thanks, but it won’t take long, and it’s really not that bad. I got off easy. Kogami-san is in the infirmary with a concussion right now. We’re used to this kind of thing.”

“Ah…okay.”

They worked in silence for a few minutes. Kagari sighed. He found it harder to concentrate in a silent environment. Reminded him of the solitude of his cell. His mind began to wander to the morning’s memory test.

Something about that test didn’t sit right with him. Who was that boy in his dreams? Who was the little girl’s voice in his head? Did something happen in the juvenile ward that they didn’t want him to remember? And if it did, why risk uncovering those memories by showing him those pictures? He honestly didn’t want to remember. He had been happy believing the boy was a figment of his imagination. He wanted to forget everything and live his new life as freely as possible. He wondered when, or if, Enforcer Oversight would let him do that.

“He turned to Kunizuka. “Hey, do…do the weird tests stop when you start working in the field?”

Without looking up from her work she responded. “No, we get tested regularly.”

“What kind of tests?”

“Mostly stress indicators. Hue checks, of course. Blood pressure, cognitive tests like memory and logical thinking, stuff that tends to erode when exposed to prolonged stress. We need to be constantly monitored to keep our crime coefficients in an operable range.”

_So they’ll never get off my damn back._ Kagari’s heart sank. “Pfft. So worried about the enforcers’ stress.”

“It’s not just us. Inspectors are monitored too. Even more so than we are. They need to see therapists regularly too.”

“Damn. Never thought the inspectors would have it rougher than us in any way.”

“They experience high stress just like we do, but they need to keep their crime coefficients much lower than we do. And they have their freedom to lose if they slip up. So of course, they would want to be closely monitored.”

“What happens if an inspector’s crime coefficient tops 100?”

Kunizuka stopped typing and sat completely still. “Shinya Kougami. When I first started here, he was an inspector. He was the one who came to my facility and convinced me to work here.”

“Ehhhhhh?!?!? Kou-chan was an inspector? What the hell happened?”

“Kunizuka lowered her head. “We had a nasty serial murder case a while back. Victims dismembered and put on public display. One of Kougami-san’s enforcers, Mitsuru Sassayama, became a victim.” She shuddered. “Kougami-san…I think he blamed himself. He never recovered. His hue became more and more clouded. A few months later, he disappeared, and six months after that, he returned as an enforcer.”

“Shit. Kou-chan never mentioned anything.”

“He doesn’t talk about it. He doesn’t talk…about much of anything anymore. The murders stopped after Sassayama-kun, and the killer was never identified. The case was transferred to the cold case division. I think Kougami-san still looks into it in his spare time, though, even though we were told to drop it.”

“If it’s in his spare time, then that’s fine then, ri-“

“The case deteriorated his psycho-pass enough to demote him to enforcer. If he knew what was good for him, he would leave it alone before he gets worse.” She paused, and when she continued, her voice came out lower. “That’s the kind of stress we in the police need to guard against, both inspectors and enforcers.”

She folded her laptop and started to clean her desk. Kagari did the same. The day was over, and the mountain of case files would still be there tomorrow. Besides, he had way too much to process.

He wondered how he would feel if he saw Kou-chan, or Kunizuka-sempai, or Karanamori-sempai dismembered and strung up like Christmas lights. The thought alone was sickening.

“Oi, Kunizuka-sempai, how…how do you handle that kind of stress?

Suddenly the emergency lights began to flash and the computerized voice of the intercom rang through the building. “Attention all personnel: There has been an area stress level alert for the area. All personnel please report to your stations. Once again, there has been an area stress level alert for this area, all personnel please report to your stations.”

A second later, Inspector Nobuchika Ginoza burst into the room. “This is bad. We’re down one since Kougami is still in the infirmary! Kunizuka, I’m counting on you!” He glanced at her bandaged hand.

“Yes sir, I can handle it.”

“Good. Take the rookie with you. I’ll get a dominator assigned to him. We need all hands on deck for this. Report to the docking area. Masaoka will meet you there.”

“Understood.” After their boss ran to another office, Kunizuka turned to Kagari. “It looks like you are about to learn firsthand how to handle stress.”

He followed her out the door and to the elevator that would lead them to the garage where their transport vehicles awaited. Kagari took a sharp breath in. His first real assignment. His excitement was only partially moderated by what he had learned today.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anyone catch the Guilty Crown reference? Hehe it's my favorite anime and I couldn't help myself! No I'm not crossing the series over I just wanted a moment of fun! ^_^


	3. A Hunting Dog's Nose

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kagari's first case; the whiz kid who aced the enforcer exam sees the world he studied for the first time in all its gritty detail. Can his natural instincts overcome his lack of socialization?

“Tokyo Metropolitan Technical University. The Ministry of Education-backed training ground for almost any white-collar job. Graduation from here pretty much guarantees a solid career,” stated Ginoza as they convened behind the residence building’s main office.

Kagari whistled as he took in the sight of the school’s giant towers. _So this is where the “good kids go, huh?”_

“Tch,” responded Old Man Masaoka. “Not the passport to a bright future it once was. Kids been killing themselves in cram school to get Sybil to send them here. Now it’s overcrowded and there aren’t enough jobs for all the graduates. I thought Sybil was supposed to prevent situations like that.”

Ginoza glared at the old man. Somehow, Kagari thought, their boss looked even colder than usual whenever he spoke to the old man. “The Sybil System conducts extensive personality testing to match people to their best-suited careers. Cramming for high school exit exams won’t change anything.”

The old man chuckled. “Well regardless, there’s been a surge of qualified applicants to the university lately. I hear they had to raise their acceptance rates last year. Just didn’t have enough room. Situation like that, no wonder area stress levels are so high.”

Ginoza scowled but did not respond. _Yep, he loathes the old man, all right._ Kagari liked the old man. Masaoka had been a cop in the old days, before inspectors and enforcers and latent criminal testing. He made no effort to hide his mistrust of the Sybil System, but he didn’t get angry about it either. He did his job, _mostly_ kept his head down, and _occasionally_ made offhand comments that had the inspectors squirming in embarrassment. Other than that, he was a good-natured guy who had quizzed Kagari on Dominator operation on the way over and said “good job, son,” when he recited the instructions perfectly. Kagari thought he might like to be an enforcer like Old Man Masaoka someday.

“Anyway, why are we sneaking in the back just to meet the guy who called in the stress level alert? Almost feels like _we’re_ the criminals. Ha ha, very funny,” he added at Masaoka’s snicker.

“Sorry, boy, couldn’t resist. But to answer your question, kids really are stressed out easy these days. Comes from living mostly stress-free lives. Even the sight of law enforcement could send them into a panic.”

“Woah.”

“Panic on a large scale like this could easily turn into a mob, so we try to be as discreet in our work as possible.”

They entered the Office of Campus Residence. There was a man waiting for them there. Wavy black hair graying at the top. Soft brown eyes twinkling underneath wrinkles. A white collared shirt and faded grey slacks over a slightly portly frame. A badge with cartoonish stickers hung from a lanyard around his neck. He looked like a grandpa about to cry from worry over young kids.

“Ah, you must be Inspector Ginoza. Thank you so much for coming.”

“No need to thank me. What’s the situation?”

  
“It’s the North Residence Tower. About an hour ago the scanners picked up a spike in area stress level, but it didn’t find any one person that was cause for concern. Then about half an hour ago the area stress went back to normal. But the kids are scared, and I keep getting strange reports. Hooded figures in the shadows. Blood spots on the floors of bathrooms. Noises coming from locked utility closets. Roommates not coming home when they’re supposed to. I just can’t sort out what’s real and what’s not.”

Ginoza narrowed his eyes. “Looks like a break-in. Guy snuck in, caused some chaos, and left. Could be a prank, could be covering up something. Either way, he’s already causing a damn panic.”

He tapped a button on his watch and spoke into it. “Ginoza to Wagon 1. Authorizing deployment of CID crowd control holobots; send to my location.” He turned back to the Campus Residence Officer. “North Tower is under a shelter-in-place order. All students present to their dorms, anyone unauthorized brought for questioning. No one in or out. The bots will help keep them calm.”

As he spoke, silver machines the size of computer mice began to roll in by the dozens, gathering at Ginoza’s feet. Once their holo programs became active, they would take the form of cute cartoon police guards and provide holoscreens where the public could watch coping videos, something along the lines of: it’s okay, nothing to worry about, let’s take some deep breaths. Kagari couldn’t see something like that calming him down, but he supposed if normal people were triggered by something as mild as police walking in, they should also be impressionable to the crowd control bots.

Ginoza turned to the enforcers. “Our guy is probably already gone if he’s no longer triggering the scanner. It’s our job to find out where he went. Kunizuka, you’re with me. We’ll be checking heads and questioning students. Masaoka, you take the kid and look into all these reports. Stop anyone out of their rooms. I want us in and out as fast as possible. This is investigation only. No need to alarm the students.”

“Yes, sir,” replied Kunizuka and Masaoka in unison. _Oh shit, I think I was supposed to be in on that!_

“Uh…yes sir,” Kagari’s voice trailed weakly behind his fellow enforcers’. Ginoza narrowed his eyes at him briefly before turning toward North Hall. Masaoka clapped him on the back as they all followed along.

When they got to the North Tower, the bots were already there to greet them with their childish voices. “Attention: This is the Criminal Investigation Department of the Public Safety Bureau. For your safety, access to this building is prohibited at this time. All residents, please convene in the Campus Residence Common Hall, where Holo Officers are on standby to alleviate any concerns-“ Ginoza cut a bot off by scanning his badge. The bot read: “Nobouchika Ginoza, registered Inspector with Criminal Investigation Department Division One. Access granted. He passed the bot and Masaoka nudged Kagari forward.

Kagari approached the bot and produced his badge. “Shusei Kagari, registered Enforcer with Criminal Investigation Department Division One. Under supervision of Inspector Nobouchika Ginoza. Access Granted. Please closely follow the orders of your supervising inspector.” Kagari stepped forward breathless, suddenly realizing he had expected to be detained by the bots for some reason. When the other two had gotten through, Masaoka whispered to him, “don’t try to get past the bots if your supervising inspector hasn’t gotten in first. They’ll detain you as a rouge enforcer till they sort it out, then you’ll never hear the end of it from Ginoza!”

They split into their teams shortly after that. Kagari followed Masaoka, who was reading a list of occurrences reported by North Tower students in the last hour. Except for the bots, the halls were empty, all the kids in their rooms waiting to be questioned by Ginoza and Kunizuka.

Kagari turned the dominator over in his hand. Of course, he had been instructed thoroughly in how to use it, but this was the first time he had been free to actually use it. He might have to use it tonight. Would he send someone to lockup tonight? Would he _kill_ someone tonight? How would that feel?

_It will feel normal in no time,_ he reassured himself. _It’s just a job, after all. Gotta do it to stay out._

Without thinking, he had aimed the Dominator at Masaoka. He jumped when he heard the cool female voice of the Dominator: “Crime Coefficient is 127. Target is a registered enforcer. Status: enforce at will. Trigger safety now released. Enforcement mode is non-lethal paralyzer.” The Dominator began to shift in his hand. Kagari gasped and dropped it, where it fell harmlessly to the floor and reverted to its locked mode.

Masaoka turned around calmly. “Scary the first time, isn’t it? Don’t worry, when the time comes, that voice will tell you what to do, as long as you keep a hold of your Dominator!” He chuckled as he continued on.

“Y-you’re not mad?”

“Nah, best way to get a feel for them before having to use actually use them is by aiming at us. Do be careful, though. As you saw, the safety is released whenever it’s pointed at a latent criminal, whether they work for us or not. Makes it easier for inspectors to shoot us down if we go rouge.”

“Anyway, kid, what do you think? Scanners at the door, anyone in and out registered. Security like this, how’d the guy get in with no trace?”

“I was thinkin’ about that, and I think it’s an inside job. Someone who knows the place, can avoid the scanners.”

“A student?”

“No. Those coddled kids would fall apart and get picked up by a scanner. I think we’re looking for an employee. One who works here regularly enough to know where the scanners are. Likely low-level, invisible, like a janitor or somethin’. Someone the kids wouldn’t notice. And…this is just a hunch, but…I’m guessin’ around the same age as the kids.”

“Huh. I had figured the employee thing based on opportunity and skill level, just as you did. But you’re already profiling. I daresay you got a motive in mind, eh?”

“Tch. I told ya it’s just a hunch.” Kagari wasn’t about to tell him it seemed obvious that someone young and put in servitude by Sybil for more fortunate peers would be driven to lash out with envy. He clenched his fist as, once again, he wondered if he could have made it here had he not been raised in a detention center.

Masaoka eyed him up and down. “Well, I generally have a good feeling about hunches. And I’ve heard you have a knack for them!” He spoke into the communicator on his watch. “Hey, Karanamori-kun, you think you could find labor companies contracted with Tokyo Tech, especially ones that do menial work in the residence buildings?”

“Tch. Give me a few moments. I’ll see what I can do.”

“Thanks!” Turning back to Kagari, he winked. “No way a Tokyo Tech employee would get anywhere near latent criminal status before being caught and sacked. Contractors, on the other hand, don’t have such a reputation to protect and won’t screen their employees as thoroughly.”

“Oi, Masaoka-san, weren’t there reports involving utility closets?”

“Good call, son. That’s where we’ve been headed this whole time. There’s the closet in question up ahead.” As they got to the end of the hallway, they observed a door that was narrower than the rest and lacked the room number that the rest of the rooms had. Masaoka turned the doorknob all the way and paused to give Kagari a look. Kagari was already there. _Why is the utility closet unlocked?_

He opened the door, Dominator up and scanning the room before settling on a dolly containing a huge crate shoved into the back of the tiny room. Masaoka began to approach the crate cautiously, ready to shoot anything that came out, while Kagari stayed back, ready to provide backup. His free hand checked the doorknob to make sure it worked, when he felt something poke him. He glanced down to confirm, and then lowered his Dominator lazily.

“Yo, Pops, there’s no one in the crate anymore. The door was forced open from the inside.” He pointed to the piece of wire broken off in the keyhole.

Masoaka looked at him and chuckled. “Well, I’ll be. You are every bit as quick as they say, son.” He used both hands to lift the cover off the crate, which was of course, empty. Then he checked the shipping label. “Delivered today. Looks like we’ve got our entry method. Guy came in through the cargo door, wouldn’t even be noticed. Scanner would be able to sense high stress in the building but not ID the source.”

He hit the button on his communicator again. “Gino, we’ve got a sketchy looking delivery that came in today. We’re going to the delivery hub to find out where it came from.”

“I told you to investigate the leads on the-”

“List, yeah, that’s what I’m doing. Following one of them. Call it my ‘hunting dog nose hard at work.’”

“Tch. Fine.”

“Thanks, sir.” He winked at Kagari. “Well, now we’ve got the boss’s blessing, let’s go work out those hunting dog noses!”

* * *

The two made their way to the residence area delivery bay, on the way passing the main common hall where students attempting to access their rooms were being redirected to the bots and their calm screens or whatever. A crowd of onlookers was forming.

“Seems the harder we try to keep the public from gawking, the more they gawk. Looks like we got the easy job tonight, eh?” Kagari couldn’t help but agree. Calming a crowd of freaking out university kids enough to get any useful information seemed tedious.

They made their way through the residence buildings, leaving the hubbub at the main area behind them. Kagari was just appreciating the quiet, peaceful path when someone crashed into him from the side, knocking him down. Heart suddenly racing, he gripped his Dominator. _This is it. This is it. This is it._

However, the person who had run into him was also on the ground and did not appear to be an assailant. A young girl about his age picked up her fallen baseball cap and then looked up at him. She had big brown eyes on a round face framed by curled black wisps. Kagari couldn’t help but think she looked like a little seraph, with her round face, flushed cheeks, and apologetic expression.

She bolted up and bowed in apology. “I’m so sorry! I wasn’t being careful! Please forgive me!” 

Kagari stood up and lowered the Dominator. He smoothed his hair. He had taken to doing that when he wanted to look cool and confident. “Ah, don’t worry about it. It’ll take way more than that to keep me down!”

The old man cut in. “You’ve got to be more careful though. What’s got you in such a hurry, little missy?”

“Ah, see, my work site changed last minute, so I need to hurry, or I’ll be late!”

“Where do you work?”

  
“I do maintenance for the school.” Kagari jolted into a new level of alertness. If they truly were “hunting dogs,” then this must be his ears pricking up.

The girl continued. “I was supposed to be cleaning the labs today, but then they reassigned me to deliveries ten minutes before my shift! And of course it had to be in the student residence area all the way on the other side of campus! Ugh, new employees like me get the worst luck!”

Masaoka grinned at her. “Well, this is perfect! We have some business in the delivery bay here too! Would you mind showing us the way?”

“I…um….” She started to fidget as she glanced nervously at her watch.

“Masaoka took out his MWPSB badge and showed it to her. “I’m sure your boss will overlook a little tardiness once I explain you were helping us.” He gave her another grin and a thumbs-up.

She looked from the badge, to Masaoka, to Kagari, who met her eyes with a sheepish grin. She looked back at Masaoka and let out a breath, seeming to relax a bit. “Sure, this way!”

As they turned to follow her, Kagari glanced at Masaoka. He shrugged and asked the girl, “So what’s your name, little missy?”

“Oh, right! I’m Sachiko Amane. It’s nice to meet you!”

“Pleasure’s all mine, Amane-san. My name’s Tomome Masaoka, and Mr. Needs to Watch Where He’s Going over there is Shusei Kagari.” Kagari opened his mouth to retort, but then he glanced at the young girl and realized arguing it wasn’t his fault would be implying it was hers. He shut his mouth and looked down. _Tch. Well Played, Old Man._

The girl looked down at her feet. “So you guys are with the police. Is everything…ok in the residence halls? I saw the crowd on the way in.”

Both enforcers had their eyes intently on her now, but she didn’t seem to notice. “Well, missy, there’s an open case, so I can’t really comment.”

“Oh, right, I’m sorry.” She raised her head again, but her voice sounded dejected.

“Do you know someone in there?”

She looked up at Masaoka, then back down at her feet. “Yeah. A friend of mine. Michiru Kaname. We graduated from the same high school last year. She lives there, so when I saw the police, I just…wanted to make sure she’s okay.”

“Did you try messaging her?”

“Yeah. No response. But, you know, that’s normal. We’re busy adults now, after all! I’m sure she’ll text me later teasing me for being so paranoid!” She laughed nervously.

As the old man pulled his comforting dad act, Kagari fell behind. He was getting one of his hunches. _Watch this girl. Something’s off._ He wasn’t sure what, exactly. But his hunches were usually accurate. Apparently, that was why Sybil thought he would make a good enforcer in the first place.

He slowly raised the Dominator toward the girl. This time he gripped the Dominator tightly as the cool female voice spoke to him again. “Crime Coefficient is 88. Not a target for enforcement action at this time. Trigger will remain locked.” _Huh. Why so high? And that hue too?_

“Kagari, what the hell are you doing?” Masaoka and the girl had turned around to find his Dominator on her. _Oops._ Masaoka took the Dominator out of his hands. “Rookies, honestly.”

And the girl was once again a fidgeting mess. Kagari scratched the back of his head abashedly. “I’m really sorry, Amane-san, I didn’t mean to scare you. See, I’m kinda new to my job, too! I’m still learning how to carry these big, bulky things in a way that doesn’t feel awkward. I guess I failed that part, huh?” He chuckled and held out his hand. “Any chance you could forgive me?”

She began to chuckle, too, as she shook his hand. “I suppose I could forgive you, one rookie to another!” Just then they turned a corner and in front of them lay a large 2-story building with many garage doors surrounded by a lot where trucks parked. “We’re here,” their guide said.

“Thanks for the help, missy. Come find us is you have any trouble clocking in!”

“Yes, sir!” She ran ahead of them toward the nearest garage door.

Masoka knocked Kagari on the head with something just hard enough to cause a bit of discomfort. He reached up and retrieved his Dominator.

“Smooth, boy.” The old man clicked his tongue. “Geez, randomly pointing a Dominator like that.”

“So…how many times do you think I can pull the rookie excuse and get away with it?” asked Kagari with a wide grin.

“Beats me. But let’s NOT put that to the test.” Adopting a more serious tone, he asked: “So, what did you find?”

“Her crime coefficient is pretty close, 88, and her hue is yellow-green.”

“That’s pretty clouded.”

“Yeah, I’d say she has more stressing her out than just the investigation of her friend’s dorm.”

“One of your hunches?”

  
“Yeah.”

“She our target?”

  
Kagari paused and bit the inside of his lip while he thought. “No,” he finally said.

“She meets your profile. Menial worker, same age as the students, even knows at least one. Not to mention one in the targeted location.” He smirked at the young man. “Hopefully you’re not simply dismissing her because she’s young and cute?”

“Tch. Yeah right, you pervert.” He looked down into the area where the girl was now entering. “She seems…scared. Like…how do I put it?” He recalled Kunizuka’s explanation of psycho-hazard earlier that day: high crime coefficients can elevate the crime coefficients of people nearby. “She seems like she’s seen or heard something she shouldn’t have, and it’s stressing her the hell out.”

“Hmmm,” the old man considered. “She did seem awfully worried about her friend.”

“Almost as if she suspected she’d be attacked.”

Masaoka tapped his communicator. “Oi, Kunizuka, you have a Michiru Kaname there?”

“Looks like she swiped in around 3pm.”

He narrowed his eyes. “She still there?”

“I don’t know, these kids have to scan their ID cards to get in, but not out, so it’s hard to say who’s still in the building, That’s what Gino-san is still trying to figure out.”

“Can you find her room number and check on her?”

“I’ll ask Gino. You know he’s going to want a reason.”

“Just tell him his hound found a good scent.”

“Fine.”

Just as that conversation ended Karanamori’s voice came in on the communicator. “Oi, I got that list you wanted. Best match is the maintenance company. They do custodial, repairs, and receiving and transporting deliveries. They’re like the errand dogs of the campus. The company name is-”

“Kikiyo Industrial?” asked Kagari, reciting the name emblazoned on Sachiko Amane's hat.

“You got it, kiddo. Seems you guys didn’t even need me.”

“Tch. Yet. Thanks, Sensei,” responded the old man. He turned to Kagari. “So, hound got a good scent?”

“It’s one of her coworkers. Probably an acquaintance of hers. Stick to her, we’ll find him.”

“Sounds like a plan, kid.”

“Why the hell are you letting me call the shots, old man?! Shouldn’t you be showing me the ropes or something?!”

He chuckled. “I want to see what you’re capable of.” As Kagari started to scowl, the old man dropped his hand heavily on his shoulder. “Don’t worry, if you were goin’ any direction I thought inappropriate, I would’ve stepped in already. Take my low involvement as a sign that you’re doin’ great, son.”


End file.
